Open discrete shrinkings in function spaces (Q2062605)

Let \(\mathcal{U}=\{U_{n}:n\in\omega\}\) be a sequence of non-empty open subsets of a space \(X\). A family \(\{V_{n}:n\in\omega\}\) is a shrinking of \(\mathcal{U}\) if \(V_{n}\) is a non-empty open set and \(V_{n}\subset U_{n}\) for every \(n\in\omega\). A space \(X\) has the discrete shrinking property if every sequence of non-empty open subsets of \(X\) has a discrete shrinking. In this paper, the author proves that if \(L\) is a non-metrizable locally convex topological vector space and \(L_{\omega}\) is the set \(L\) with the weak topology of the space \(L\), then \(L_{\omega}\) has the discrete shrinking property. In particular, a space \(X\) is uncountable if and only if \(C_{p}(X)\) has the discrete shrinking property. The same statement is not true for \(C_{p}(X,[0, 1])\), i.e. when the discrete shrinking property holds in \(C_{p}(X,[0, 1])\). Among other things, it is shown that \(C_{p}(X,[0, 1])\) features the discrete shrinking property if \(X\) is an essentially uncountable space. The main results are as follows. \textbf{Theorem 1.} Let \(L\) be a locally convex linear topological space, \(L_{\omega}\) is the set \(L\) with the weak topology of the space \(L\). Then \(L_{\omega}\) has the discrete shrinking property if and only if it is not metrizable. \textbf{Theorem 2.} Given a space \(X\), assume that, for any countable set \(A\subset X\), there exist disjoint countable sets \(D, E \subset X\backslash A\) such that \(cl_{\beta X}(D)\cap cl_{\beta X}(E)\neq\emptyset\). Then \(C_{p}(X,\mathbb{I})\) has the discrete shrinking property. \textbf{Theorem 3.} Assume that \(X\) is a space such that \(C_{p}(X,\mathbb{I})\) does not have the discrete shrinking property. Then there is a countable set \(A\subset X\) such that every countable subset of \(X\backslash A\) is \(C^{\ast}\)-embedded in \(X\). \textbf{Theorem 4.} If \(X\) is a simple space, then \(C_{p}(X,\mathbb{I})\) has the discrete shrinking property if and only if \(X\) is essentially uncountable.